


One more night

by anthiese



Series: I really should go to sleep instead of making this [6]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Family, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route, Gen, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), if u know what's coming, no beta we die like Glenn, vague spoilers for those three's identities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22500787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthiese/pseuds/anthiese
Summary: The night before the attempt to retake Garreg Mach from the grasp of the Empire, Rhea sings.Someone listens.For the Felannie server drabble challenge!
Series: I really should go to sleep instead of making this [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1592482
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31
Collections: Bread Eaters, Those Who Drabble in the Dark





	One more night

**Author's Note:**

> roxy's prompt for this week: Goodbyes - goodbyes are never easy even for better opportunities, but war can cause partings to be too sudden or cruel. Write 200-500 words about “goodbyes” using any route, characters, ship or no ship, etc. Can be during canon or post or Au!
> 
> SUCH A GOOD PROMPT AAAAAA... i had so many feelings about this. i have more actually. enjoy!
> 
> Ps, this takes place before chapter 15 of Crimson Flower. :)

Hiding at the top of the high ramparts of the Silver Maiden hasn’t been enough, but Rhea only noticed someone else was there when she already started singing, when they sat next to her. 

In truth, she never liked having people listen. Mother’s song isn’t something to be shared, performed for a crowd, or sang for herself. It’s a song in honor of souls that were lost, and the things that faded with them—lives, deaths, memories. 

Memory is the one thing she has left of Mother, now; the one thing keeping her awake and alive and searching for the blue star in the night sky, the one audience she sings to. 

Sometimes she wonders if she’s forgotten a lyric or two, in the passage of time. If she’s corrupted the melody, if her voice simply isn’t strong enough to carry the sound like Mother’s would. 

But it seems to be enough for Flayn. Enough to lull her to sleep for one more night. 

The little one sat next to her and rested her head on her shoulder, before sliding down to lay it on her lap, and finally Rhea’s singing was interrupted by her light snoring.

She’s a fragile thing, the last of their own. A precious summer flower, her hair under Rhea’s palm as soft as the first green grass of the fields of Enbarr. Looking at her like this, snuggled up against her belly, lost in dreams that must be far more pleasant than their current reality, it doesn’t feel like she aged a day compared to the child Cichol held in his arms on the day they reunited, the day Rhea was able to weep in his chest again. 

But time has passed, enough that the waters have risen again to threaten to swallow them up. Rhea has never felt them so close to her throat, not since the day the canyon was painted red, and again the day Cethleann fell to her sleep, and Cichol fell to Cethleann’s.

Then they’d all been truly alone. So long ago, and yet... 

She leans down close to Flayn, a hand caressing her cheek, the sharp curve of her ear, and the girl smiles from the depths of her dream, when the flap of a wyvern’s wings resounds through the air. Seteth’s creature perches itself up on the rampart, and Rhea turns, pressing a finger to her lips. 

“It will be light soon, Rhea.” He tells her. 

She nods, before turning back to Flayn, and stroking her head. Seteth fidgets in his saddle. 

“We have to depart soon, if we’re to reach the monastery before they strengthen their defenses.” 

“You are taking her with you a second time,” Rhea notes. She doesn’t need to remind him what happened the first. 

“She insists.” Seteth replies. “She insists on not leaving me alone.” 

Rhea’s gaze falls back on Flayn, and for a second she sees something awful, before it fades, and there’s the smile on her peaceful face and the angle of her ears and Seteth’s words. Tears start to well up in her eyes. 

“I understand.” Rhea says, because she does, and she wishes Flayn didn’t. 

Seteth dismounts, falling to one knee on the stone beside them, and Rhea doesn’t look up. 

“We will be back.” He tells her. “I promise you.” 

Then his hand reaches to shake Flayn awake. 

Rhea says nothing more. 


End file.
